


(go back) To the Beginning

by Alley_Walk (AlleyWalk_writes), Tod der Fata Morgana (AlleyWalk_writes)



Series: ghosts of the past [1]
Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Allen and Kanda become their own dads, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Innocence Signatures, M/M, Mentions of past child abuse, Multi, Nonbinary Alma Karma, Platonic Romance, The Ark is a Tanuki, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Timetravel Aliases, Trans Allen Walker, because Red, except they're like, okay we got the kids wtf do we do now, parenting how do???, silent communication, well... sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-04-12 06:26:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19126432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlleyWalk_writes/pseuds/Alley_Walk, https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlleyWalk_writes/pseuds/Tod%20der%20Fata%20Morgana
Summary: The Order fucks up big time, and the Noah win the war. With the three days of darkness fallen upon the earth, Kanda and Allen go back in time back to the very beginning, to save these idiots from themselves.And by "these idiots", Kanda means their past selves.Kanda just didn't expect their actions to shunt them so abruptly into fatherhood, with the Earl and the Order on their tails and Cross and Komui along for the ride.What did Kanda do in his past life to deserve this?Dammit. Kanda knew hell was too good for him.





	1. [???===>Let's go rescue some little shits]

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, y'all!
> 
> This is the first chapter of a new fic of mine, I hope you like! :D
> 
> Also, this is tagged Mature because, well, the "Graphic Depictions of Violence" tag is there for a reason. Sometimes I can get into some really heavy stuff, (though nothing too bad), so, even though there will never be any sex scenes in this at all, (the Queerplatonic tag is there for a reason, as that is the main pairing), I thought I'd give a bit of warning just in case.
> 
> TW: Non-graphic death of children, talk of dysphoric feelings, brief mentions of past child abuse, panic attacks.
> 
> If you can get through all that, please enjoy! ^^

Allen sits leaning back against his father's headstone, his breath fogging out in wisps as the unforgiving snowflakes fall down around him, uncaring of a little red headed boy left out in the cold.

To be fair, Allen didn't care much neither. After Mana had died and they had buried him here, he had refused to move from this spot. Or more likely had been unable to. 

His reason for being here, his reason for  _ everything _ , lay in this exact spot. There was no point in leaving, no point in living, when his reason for living in the first place was buried six feet under.

Allen shivers in the cold. Buggering fuck, he bloody hates winter. And to think that Allen was supposed to be a winter child. Whatever the bloody hell that means.

But the winter weather is doing a good enough job for him.

He'll get to see Mana soon.

Through the blustering snow and what was left of Allen's fading consciousness, Allen sees a flash of yellow light. Then warm arms wrap around him, picking him up like he was nothing. A large part of Allen wants to struggle, to fight, to make whoever it is leave him there so he can be with Mana again. 

Another part of Allen is just glad he's not alone anymore.

Allen slips out of consciousness just as he's eclipsed by that blinding yellow light.

 

* * *

 

Allen wakes up warm and cozy, his fingers and toes feeling numb and sore. There’s the smell of something absolutely delicious nearby, and Allen opens his eyes to look for the source. He finds that he’s in a small room with warm painted walls, propped up in bed with a ridiculous amount of pillows. Before him on a tray was a bowl of soup, and Allen immediately goes to grab the bowl before remembering his manners.

Allen scowls. Stupid manners. He was hungry  _ now. _

Sighing, Allen looks around for a spoon, and, upon finding one, spoons the lukewarm soup into his mouth. The slow way. Dear fuck this was agonizing.

Before Allen could have a food induced aneurysm, the door opens. Allen drops his spoon, instantly wary. He watches the door, only for… an old guy and a veteran swordsman (?) and their pet fox-thing to walk in through the door. They seem surprised upon sight of him, or maybe that he’s awake? Just how long was he asleep before he woke up here?

Allen bristles upon their approach, and he demands, “Who are you?! Where am I?! Why did you bring me here?!”

The swordsman’s brows furrow, and he shoots a look at the old guy that he staunchly ignores. This seems to annoy the swordsman. Though, upon a second look, the old guy isn’t really an old guy. Just a guy with white hair. He has storm blue eyes the exact shade as Allen’s, his white hair neck length with deep brown skin, and an angled blood red scar down the left side of his face. The swordsman is his polar opposite. With cobalt blue eyes, light peach skin, and dark grey hair pulled back in a ponytail that went down to his mid back. He carried a sheathed sword at his hip, hence the name ‘swordsman’. The animal with them is really funny looking. It looks like a mix between a raccoon and a fox, if raccoons and foxes were black and white instead of grey and red.

The two men sit down in a couple of comfortable chairs, and–wait, were those there before? Allen blinks, rubbing his eyes. Yup. Still there. Allen's eyes narrow, and he glares at the two chairs as if they have done him a personal wrong before focusing on the two men.

The white haired man smiles in a pleasant way that makes Allen immediately suspicious. “My name’s Cory Gray. This is my partner Kino.” Kino shoots Cory an annoyed glance, while the raccoon fox-thing stares up at Cory from her position in his lap with obvious hurt in her eyes. Berk. He couldn’t even be bothered to introduce his own pet. Said pet looks over at him with a foxy grin, almost looking pleased, as if she had deduced Allen’s thoughts.

Huh. Kino. Is that a nickname or something?

Cory looks at the raccoon fox and pets her in apology, making Allen’s hands itch to do the same. His hands hurt, now that he thinks about it actually. Well, more like his fingers and toes. Bringing up his hands, he notices the bandages wrapped around them with confusion.

“You gave us quite a scare,” Cory says, and Allen looks up from examining his fingers. “You’ve got some pretty bad frostbite on your fingers, and some of your toes as well.”

Allen’s eyes widen. He starts to rip off the bandaging on his hands, panic pulsing through his veins, and he can hear someone yelling at him to stop, but his whole field of view is suddenly wholly focused on his hands. He can’t lose them, he can’t! He won’t be able to survive without them! But tears are in his eyes, and he realizes with dread that he can’t move his pinky finger, and several of his toes refuse to respond. His breath rattles in his throat, his chest heaving.

A large hand grabs his wrist. Allen looks up. “Stop.” Kino says, calmly, his eyes oddly… soft, for a man who had looked so formidable before. Allen drops his left hand, still wheezing. Then the raccoon thing jumps up onto the bed, squeezing herself under the tray to pop up before Allen, making a cat-like noise of distress before licking his face. Allen blinks, and then smiles hesitantly, putting his free hand down onto her back and petting her with abandon. She sure seemed to enjoy the attention.

“That’s Snare.” Cory says, and Allen looks up to see him looking in shock at his left arm. Allen tensed, staring up defiantly at the man holding his right arm aloft, waiting for him to break, to twist–

Kino lets go. Allen can only stare in confusion as Cory takes his focus off of his left arm-still petting Snare-and just… moves on.

_ “Monster!” Cosimo taunts, readying the whip. _

_ “Demon!” The children at the orphanage yell, throwing rocks that sting and bruise almost as much as the words they throw at his back. _

_ “Hell-spawn!” The nun hisses, smothering his head with a pillow. _

...So what was he to them?

 

* * *

 

Cory Gray looks at the mess of a boy in the bed in front of them, and wants to smack himself. He had told himself that this was going to be easy; that Red wouldn’t make too much of a fuss. He had even told Kino that very same thing, despite his skeptical looks. But of course it was never going to be easy. It never was, with him. Allen had forgotten what a mess he was as a kid.

_ Cory _ , he reminds himself. He can’t think of himself as Allen, not even in his own head. It had taken a lot of convincing from Ka-  _ Kino _ and a lot of rebelling on Cory’s part for him to see that he has to get practiced at it now, before Wisely reincarnates and can read his mind with a glance.

That would be truly disastrous.

Luckily, they have some fail-safes in place, as faulty as they are.

Cory just hopes, with his white hair and newly acquired Noah genes, that the differences between himself and Red are enough to gloss over the similarities. 

Kino will have even more trouble with that than he will once they have his own counterpart with them. They had already taken preemptive measures by dying Kino's hair dark grey, as well as the contouring that Allen subjects Kanda to every morning. 

Bugger. That's twice total for his own name and once for Kino's.

Oh well. He's sure Kino is doing much worse.

Red looks calmed down now, so it's time to proceed with the plan. Kino gives him an expectant look, tilting his head in Red's direction. Allen furrows his brows at him, confused.

Kino scoffs at him, rolling his eyes. He turns to Red and asks, "And what's your name?"

Cory blinks, and then flushes. 

Right. His name. Which they  _ weren't supposed to know. _ He really needs to get a handle on these things, and fast. He's the one on point, after all. 

The boy–Red, and wasn't it still jarring to see a younger version of his own face staring back at him. It almost didn't feel real, and he'd have to dig his fingernails into his palms to ground himself in reality–frowns for a moment, and then says, "Allen, I guess."

Allen feels as if someone just punched him in the chest. He thought he knew what it would feel like, to throw away his name and have it snatched up by another. So he's not quite ready for the anger and utter betrayal that he feels come bubbling to the fore. He swallows it down to deal with later, and focuses on the present.

Allen smiles politely. "It's nice to meet you."

Other-Allen gives him a suspicious look as if  _ Allen _ were strange. Which–to be fair–he  _ was _ , compared to his past self. At least in appearance.

"We're at a place called the Ark. As for the reason we brought you here… well, that's a bit more complicated." Allen swallows. "Have you heard any stories about the Millenium Earl?"

Other-Allen's brows furrow. "Yeah. Ma- M-my father used to tell them to me. But they were just stories, weren't they?"

Kanda snorts, folding his arms over his chest. "What gave you that idea?"

Other-Allen's eyes widen. "Then the Earl…"

"Yeah." Allen says, nodding with a sad smile.

"Is it… is it safe here?" Other-Allen asks with fear in his eyes.

Kanda snorts. "As safe as anywhere is." He says.  _ Well that sounds reassuring, nice job Kanda. _ Allen thinks sarcastically.

Allen shoots him a look.  _ Really? _

Kanda shrugs.  _ I’m not going to fucking lie to the kid. That’s your specialty. _

Allen scowls, aiming a kick at his shin. Kanda dodges with a smirk. Normally this would ensue a game of violent footsie, but because the kid was there, they restrained themselves. They had to at least keep up the appearance of functioning adults.

...Or try to, by the way other-Allen is giving them strange looks.

Allen stands. He puts all the power of the fourteenth’s voice into his words as he says, “You should go back to bed. You need rest.” Immediately, other-Allen yawns, before laying his head back down and drifting off to sleep.

Snare is looking at him sadly, and a door opens behind Allen’s and Kanda’s chairs. Allen turns. Kanda gives him a judgemental look but otherwise doesn’t say anything. Which is… good. Now that there’s nothing to focus on, Allen can feel that confusing mix of emotions come back full force.

The door has opened to his and Kanda’s bedroom. Their bedroom is sparse. It has a large bed on the left with blue sheets, purple pillows, and a black comforter. The wooden floors are bare except for a shared dresser on the opposite side of the room.

Allen immediately collapses on top of the bed, breathing in Kanda’s comforting scent. 

How should he even feel about something like this? Is there a way that he’s supposed to feel about something that’s meant everything to him, that’s been the last thing on this earth that Mana ever gave him, being taken away?

He knows he felt… pain, and anger, and betrayal. The pain, he expected. The anger and betrayal, however, came out of nowhere. Where did that come from? Rolling over onto his back, he frowns.  _ It was because of Red, _ he realizes.  _ I was angry at him, I felt betrayed by him. But… _ His frown deepens, and he lets out a sigh.  _ I can’t hold him to the same principles I hold myself. He’s just a kid, and besides, he doesn’t know me. Doesn’t know that I am him. So I can’t blame him for claiming a name that… that belongs to him as much as me. _

_ But where does that leave me? _

Lifting his hand towards the ceiling, Allen peers through the gaps between his fingers.

_ I guess… I can’t be Allen Walker anymore. _

Allen clenches his fist, bringing it back down to rub at the tears springing to his eyes.

_ I’m Cory… Corydon Gray.   _

 

* * *

 

Alma Karma was a lonely boy.

He had woken up here all alone two months ago, and while the scientists were nice, Alma got the sense that they weren’t completely comfortable around him.

It was confusing, but what was more confusing were Alma’s increasing issues about gender. The scientists all said he was a boy, but Alma just wasn’t sure if that was true. When he had questioned one of them, a nice man named Isamu, he had quickly gotten nervous and then swiftly changed the subject. But Alma didn’t feel like a boy. In fact, if he were to put a name on it, Alma would almost say that he had no gender at all.

But Alma was a lonely boy, and so, had no one to talk to about these issues.

Alma was just about to head to the birthing chamber when he was headed off by a white haired scientist with storm blue eyes and deep brown skin. “Hello, Alma. Do you mind if I talk with you for a minute?” He asks, smiling politely.

Someone who wants to talk? With him? Great!

Alma shakes his head. “No, I don’t mind!” He squints, trying to remember faces. “Are you new here? I don’t recognize you, Mr…” He reads the name tag attached to his lab coat, “Cory-don Gray?”

Cory-don laughs, but it doesn’t sound mean. “Just call me Cory, it’s what Allen calls me.”

Alma’s eyes widen. “Who’s Allen?” Has someone else woken up and nobody told him? Alma’s already starting to get excited when Cory bursts his bubble.

“Oh, that’s just my kid. He’s about your age, actually.” Cory reaches down and ruffles Alma’s hair. Alma’s never seen so much  _ affection _ with that one action, instead of the amused fondness that the scientists use with the action whenever he amuses them.

It’s not  _ bad _ . Not exactly. But it makes the hurt and the loneliness ache all the more, and suddenly Alma is jealous of this Allen that gets to be Cory’s son when he doesn’t, and then suddenly he’s saying, “I think the other scientists are wrong about my gender.”  _ Idiot! Why did I say that? He’s a scientist too! _

Only all Cory does is lower himself down to Alma’s level, and ask gently, “Why would you say that?”

His eyes seem oddly understanding, as if urging Alma to continue, so Alma says, “Whenever they call me a boy I hate it, and it hurts inside. I hate the clothes I wear, they make me feel like everyone is judging me for not looking right.”

Cory rubs his back soothingly, and Alma didn’t even know that he was on the ground crying until that moment. Cory draws him into a hug, still rubbing his back in slow circles, and Alma cries until he can’t cry anymore.

“So what would you like instead?” Cory asks, cleaning the tears and snot from Alma’s face with a hanky.

Alma blinks. “I... I don’t know.”

Cory nods with a smile. “Well let me know when you do.” Sighing, Cory sits on the floor next to him, looking at him seriously. “Alma, I have to ask you a serious question.”

Alma nods. He can handle serious. He is the serious of seriousness. Totally serious.

“Do you think that human experimentation is in any way morally right or justified just to win a war?”

The words hit Alma in the gut.  _ Human experimentation. _ That… that wasn’t what this was… was it? 

Alma had never thought about it. Too caught up in his loneliness, his thoughts, his desperate want of a friend.

_ But it is, isn’t it? I… I woke up in a vat, in the birthing chamber. Those scientists made me. And the Innocence synchronizations…  _

A sudden, protective anger overcomes Alma, and he stands up, fists clenched.

“Wait.”

Alma turns on the scientist. “Why should I?! You’re just like  _ them _ , aren’t you?!” He snarls out.

The scientist shakes his head. Then he begins unbuttoning his lab coat. “I was never a scientist, Alma. I snuck in with a friend of mine to rescue you and the others.”

Alma gapes at his sort-of friend. Under the lab coat is a uniform of some sort. It’s black with hot pink embellishments, buttoned up down the middle with a hot pink shirt underneath and black pants with shin high shoes. There’s some sort of… symbol? on the breast of the shirt. It looks like a sun, with a snake eating its own tail around the inside.

“You’re rebels?” Alma asks, wide eyed.

Cory rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “Well, yeah…”

Alma’s not sure what to think of that, but first things first.

“That’s so cool!”

 

* * *

 

Where the fuck is the beansprout?

He was supposed to be here ten minutes ago, and Kinoshita can’t exactly stand around here all day. It’d look suspicious as fuck. He sighs, looking down into a certain vat of questionable liquid. Kino’s vat of questionable liquid. Not that it’s his now. That kid down there is proof enough of that.

(And God fucking dammit, did Kinoshita love and hate that stupid nickname. But after all this time, it felt earned).

To be honest, Kinoshita just wants to take Yuu and book it back to the Ark. He has no idea what will happen once they take these kids out of these vats while they’re still sleeping, and taking all of them at once seems like too much of a risk.

But he knows that Cory and Alma will have it no other way, and so is resigned to pulling each and every one of these kids out of these vats as soon as he sees Alma and Cory walking towards him, Alma with a distinctly determined expression on their face. Just seeing Alma brings a pang of  _ something _ into Kanda’s chest, and Kino quickly looks away, hardening his expression as he looks at the beansprout. He’s in a lab coat similar to Kinoshita’s, though he notices he’s unbuttoned it.

Kinoshita turns sharp eyes on Alma. “You told them?”

Cory nods. “Yes.”

Alma seems confused and apprehensive for a moment, before their face brightens with realization and happiness.

“Keep watch, kid.” Kino says, and then he takes a deep breath and dives into his former vat, kicking down sharply while propelling himself further with his arms. Soon he’s at the bottom, staring down at the body of his younger self. Was he always so fucking small? Clearing his mind of these thoughts, Kanda scoops up his younger self and kicks off from the bottom, the water pressure bearing down on him, popping his ears as he bursts to the surface. He climbs out of the vat, dripping liquid absolutely everywhere. He lays past-him on the floor near Alma’s feet. He lays motionless, still asleep. Turning away, Kinoshita goes for the next vat.

Kino is tired and dripping when Alma calls, “um, you guys, I think something’s wrong.” The pile of children had been steadily growing, only now, Kanda notices, that more than half of them are distinctly blue in pallor.

“Shit!”  _ The water. There’s fucking water in their lungs! _

Allen resurfaces and picks up both his charges, carrying each under one arm. “Cory!” Kanda says.

The beansprout must have heard the urgency in his voice, because he picks up the pace, eyes landing on the children and widening. He shoves his hand into his pocket, gloves catching on the soaked fabric, and pulls out… an apple. But not just any apple. Instead of being red or green, this apple had the silver sheen of Kanda’s sword, and an inner glow that pulsed a soft green. Allen holds it out to him, and Kanda takes it with a nod of thanks.

Allen goes over to the more recent rescuees to try to revive them first, though Kanda knows he’ll still try to revive every single one. Kanda kneels on the ground, pulling the body of his past self towards him. Yuu is still and silent, his skin tinted blue, chest ominously still.

Kanda starts on the revival techniques the Order taught him, placing the heel of his hand in the center of the boy’s chest, placing his other hand on top. After thirty chest compressions, he bends down and gives him two breaths of air, feeling his chest expand and contract underneath him.

Twice more. Nothing. Dammit! Grabbing the apple, Kanda bites off a big part of it, feeling the replenishing juices soak into his skin. He spits it out and forces it down Yuu’s ( Alma’s ) throat. He holds his hand over Yuu as a golden energy lights up in his hands. Yuu’s eyes snap open, glowing electric green, Alma crying out in surprise as the boy’s body seizes up, the blue being chased from his skin.

The energy fades as Yuu leans over and coughs up all the water in his lungs, and Kanda–Kinoshita–gives a breath of relief. And that’s when those accursed alarm bells start clanging. Kino and Cory look up as one.

Immediately, Cory closes his eyes. In seconds, an Ark gate rises up from the ground, glowing like fractured pieces of glass. Alma gapes at the structure, but there’s no time to explain. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” Allen says, looking sadly down at the pile of children, now corpses. There are a couple of children other than Yuu, however, that seem to have survived. Helping each of them to their feet, Allen escorts them through the Ark gate.

Kino does the same, simply scooping up Yuu despite his indignant, “Hey!” And dropping him down on the streets of the Ark. Yuu looks around the Ark with awe. “What… the fuck…”

Kinoshita looks out of the Ark gate to see what’s keeping Alma and quickly pulls them out of the way just as a CROW yells, “bind!” And the whole place is swarming with them. Drawing his sword, Kino knocks two hexed sinkers out of the air, pulling Alma back towards the Ark. He hears Alma cry out in pain, which is enough distraction for a hexed sinker to embed itself into his arm. The arm goes numb with a tingling pain, and Kanda curses, untangling his fingers from around Mugen’s hilt so he can fight one handed. When he looks up he’s surrounded by spell tags. The circle of tags crackle to life, and Kanda vaults through the air, jumping free just as the tags activate. 

Fuck it.

Sheathing his sword, he scoops Alma up in his arm despite their yelp of protest. A hexed sinker hits his leg and he stumbles at the entrance as his leg goes numb. Then a hand reaches through the gate, grabbing onto the front of his shirt, and pulls him through.

Being held in Cory’s arms as he shatters the gate behind them, all Kino can do is relax. They’d done it. They’d finally done it. 


	2. [Allen==>Where the fuck are they off to this time??]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allen is suspicious, curious, and pissed all at once.
> 
> Cory and Kino go off to find another friend in danger.
> 
> Komui just wants a solution to their problems and for all this crazy shit to happen somewhere else. Hopefully to someone more deserving of it than them.
> 
> And Marie and Bak just want answers. And, well, some other stuff as well...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! *waves*
> 
> Here's the second chappie! I hope you like!
> 
> TW: swearing, depression and PTSD.

Allen licks his strawberry cream ice cream cone, not really knowing and not really caring how they knew it was his favorite. They had given one of the new kids, Yuu, a chocolate ice cream cone, but upon one lick he had made a face and shoved it upon his friend/partner in crime, Alma Karma. Alma had only been too happy to take him up  on his offer. Apparently they’d never had ice cream before, wherever they came from.

The adults had been too sparse on the details for Allen’s liking. Where the bloody hell did these kids come from, and why are they here? There’s four of them and they all look exactly alike, except for their haircuts. Allen would suspect cloning, except there’s no one among them that looks slightly older. And so it was that Allen was sitting in the streets of the Ark eying the new children, trying to get up the nerve to ask his questions. 

But it turns out all that was unnecessary.

Alma turns to him, cobalt blue eyes bright with curiosity. “So, how did you end up here?” All of the other children perk up, and even Yuu looks mildly interested. 

Allen takes a bite out of his cone to give himself time to think, then challenges, “what about you? How the hell did you get here?” 

Alma’s shoulders hunch defensively, while Yuu bristles, shooting back challengingly, “You tell me yours, and I’ll tell you mine.”

Alma looks up. “Me, too.” They agree.

The other two give similar forms of agreement, so Allen sighs and looks down at his ice cream cone, the frozen treat no longer appetizing. He would tuck it into his pocket for later, but then it’d just melt and ruin his clothes. These might be the only set of clothes he gets, so he has to be careful with them. Snare comes up to him out of nowhere and fixes her golden gaze on the ice cream cone in his hand. He throws it on the ground towards the raccoon dog–he'd been right about the raccoon part, at least–and she eagerly gobbles it up, tail wagging. 

Allen reluctantly begins his story. “My father had just died, and I was sitting against his gravestone when they came and took me away.” 

Yuu’s brows furrow. “So… they fucking kidnapped you?”

Alma looks at Yuu strangely. “How do you even know what a kidnapping _is_ , Yuu?” 

Yuu scoffs, hitting Alma over the head. “Idiot. It’s general knowledge. Everyone’s born with that.” 

 _No they’re fucking not._ Allen wants to say. _Just what fucking planet are these weirdos from?_

Alma has a look of realization on their face. “Oh, right. I forgot.” They say sheepishly.

Allen’s now mourning his ice cream, wondering if maybe, just maybe, they’ll forget about their agreement so Allen can run to his room and go eat some of the food he’s got stashed in his closet.

But then Alma turns to him and says, “Oh, I’m sorry! We got completely sidetracked! What were you saying, again?”

“He was talking about how he got _kidnapped_ by _our rescuers.”_

Allen glares. “It wasn’t fucking like that, you complete pillock! They saved me from getting body snatched by a guy called the Millenium Earl.” 

On queue, all three kids look to Alma. Alma’s shoulders hunch in again, but they blink and ask, “who?” 

Allen sighs. “The Millenium Earl is the maker of the Akuma.” 

Alma interrupts. “Oh, I know about them! It was why we were created. To fight the Akuma…” Alma’s voice trails off, and all four children look away. Yuu is scowling at the ground, and one of the other kids with shorter hair is crying, being comforted by a kid with hair that goes down his shoulders and holds himself in an oddly feminine way. Alma looks sad and oddly disappointed in themselves.

 _Created, huh?_ Allen thinks. _That sounds just as fucked up as what happened to me. What complete bollocks_ _._

Alma blinks, looking around. “Where have Cory and Kino gone off to?”

Allen shrugs. “They went on another mission. Probably another fucking kid in danger. They said they'd be back soon.”

Yuu scowls. “And what if they never come back from this one? What then?”

Allen scowls right back. “They will.” He promises. 

 _They better. I'll destroy all their damned stuff if they don't._  

Snare looks at him, obviously amused, and Allen pushes her away. "Go find someone else's privacy to invade." He grumbles. Tilting her head, Snare turns and scampers off, jumping into Alma's lap. 

Now where did they say they went off to again? Fucking _China?_ Allen knew something was up with this place, but China? How the hell…  

Allen frowns. "Where the fuck did you say you were from, again?"

 

* * *

 

Cory is getting tired of this guessing game.

They had known that Lenalee had lived in China, but they hadn’t known which region she was in, only to look around at the time that she would be five or six. They had actually time travelled back several years to get to this point, just like they had had to do with Kanda’s timeline to get to Yuu. Is it even necessary to call Kanda Kino when Yuu hasn’t claimed the name Kanda yet? Allen supposes they could have just avoided the whole mess by letting Kino keep his true surname and just changing his first name, or maybe just naming Yuu something else altogether, but that would have probably been even more confusing than this whole mess was.

Kanda Yuu.

_Kinoshita Yasu._

Allen Walker.

_Cory Gray._

Cory could barely keep it all straight, nevermind think of himself as Cory consistently on a day-to-day basis. He may be Cory now, may have accepted that name as a part of himself, but that doesn't mean it's easy to let go of the name "Allen". Even with accepting the new name as part of who he is, "Allen" was such an essential part of his identity that he's not sure what he would do without it.

Not to mention that whole mess with other-Allen that Cory hasn’t told Kino about yet.

He and Kino are currently searching all of China for Lenalee and Komui. The only problem with that is, that the surname “Lee” is so common that they’re practically going door to door, and it’s getting old. Cory can tell Kino is getting irritated, and he can’t blame him. Cory sighs. He hopes Lenalee and Komui are safe, wherever they are. He knows that Akuma attack they went through that killed their family must have been tough. Cory had wanted to protect them from that, to be honest, but Kino had reminded him that the adults might be harder to convince, which had swayed Cory in the end.

An idea sparks in Cory’s mind, and he halts on the sidewalk, Kino giving him an irritated look as he stops also. “What if we’ve been going about this the wrong way?”

Kino huffs impatiently. “What do you mean?” He demands.

Cory frowns. “We’ve been asking about two Lee family members with certain attributes. What if we ask about two Lee family members whose family has died of mysterious causes?”

 Kino frowns. “It could work,” he concedes. 

Cory grins, new excitement at the prospect of finding Lenalee racing through his veins. He grabs Kino’s hand and tugs him along, ignoring the disgusted looks and the way people turn away from them. He lets go of Kino’s hand soon enough as they separate to do some information gathering. Cory has nice conversations with quite a few people, and learns some very interesting things, namely from an elderly woman who lives across the street from “that no good Komui and his sweet little sister,”. Cory gets their address, claiming Komui as an old friend of his that he’d gotten out of touch with. The elderly woman looks at him suspiciously after that and quickly moves away, but Allen’s gotten what he needed.

He and Kino meet back up at their designated spot. Leaning against the wall of a building, arms crossed, Kino says, “people around here seem to know of them. They talk about them like they’re a ghost story. And the rumors have run wild.” Kino spits on the ground, disgusted, then adds, “didn’t get an address, though.” 

Cory smirks. “Then you’re in luck. Because _I_ did.”

Kino scoffs. “Well, let’s hope we get to them before the Order does.”

 

* * *

 

Komui is busy pounding a nail into compliance near the front door, his hammer making loud cracks against the wooden boards that he had begged off of the town woodsmen to shore up the holes blown into his home by those _things_. He’s so focused, in fact, that he doesn’t notice the front door opening until someone kicks down the door.

Komui spins toward the door, brandishing his hammer menacingly as the smell of blood and flowers hits his nose. “Who are you?! I have a hammer!” Who could have possibly decided to attack them? Robbers? Most of their valuables were destroyed. The police? They haven’t come after Komui so far.* Then…

Komui gulps.

“Kino!” The white haired monster says. …Admonishes? “You didn’t have to kick down the door!” That was definitely an admonishment. The other monsters hadn’t talked, only transformed. And they hadn’t looked nearly as well kept as these two did; more like poor people or beggars.

Maybe… these two weren’t… monsters?

Still, better to be cautious.

“Kino” huffs, his annoyance making the scent of flowers almost cloying. “We don’t have time to go dawdling around knocking at people’s doors for five minutes straight. It was the most logical solution and I took it. Deal with it, beansprout.”

“Beansprout” (and wasn’t that an adorable nickname.(No, stay cautious Komui, remember what happened last time)), flicks the dark grey haired one playfully on the forehead, who then smirks and proceeds to flick him back. Their strange not-scents permeate the air, and Komui has to wonder what this means. Only Lenalee has ever had a not-scent before. The smell of the wind. And it had grown stronger ever since she had gained her abilities. Looking at the two, Komui can’t help but wonder just what has walked into his home. The white haired young man turns to him and–ouch, that is one nasty scar on his face.

“Hello, my name’s Cory Gray.” He says with a bow, reaching out to shake Komui’s hand. Komui eyes the hand as if it were a poisonous snake as the smell of blood thickens, still holding his hammer at the ready.

Cory seems to sense this, for he spreads out his hand in surrender and says, “We mean you no harm. We came to help you, Komui.”

Komui’s eyes narrow. “How do you know my name? Are you in league with the monsters?” His heart is beating hard and fast in his chest, fear gripping him in it’s icy claws. He knows he sounds like a paranoid coffee addict on a binge, and to be honest he _may_ have been drinking more than was good for him lately, but he needs to make sure Lenalee is safe and _never has to encounter these monsters again._ He prays that Lenalee will stay back in her room where it’s safe, but that hope was not to be.

“Brother!” Lenalee’s excited voice reaches his ears, not near him, but _above_ him. “Brother, look what I can do!” He looks up with dread, only to see Lenalee doing clumsy kicks to keep herself aloft. Her elaborate black and gold _changyi_ gives her extra freedom of movement, the soft green glow of her boots active once more. Komui had been concerned upon learning about Lenalee’s abilities; but they had been what saved him in the end, and the joy the Lenalee felt upon flight made the powers worth it, in Komui’s book.

Komui looks over at the two maybe-monsters to gauge their reactions. Cory is looking upon her with a fond smile, though his eyes look oddly sad. Kino’s eyes are dark, his expression unreadable. Lenalee’s face lights up with realization as she looks down at the two.

“You’re the lotus flower, aren’t you?” Lenalee asks with a smile, directing her question at Kino.

_Lotus flower… can she possibly mean the floral not-scent that I’m experiencing?_

Kino nods. Komui can’t read the expression on his face. He seems almost… relieved? “Yes, I am.” Kino replies.

Cory smiles. “And you’re wind and the smell of machine oil.”

Komui’s brows furrow. _They’re sensing something. Something more than I myself can sense._

Lenalee frowns at him, chastising. “Why did you break that piano? It was so wasteful, and the music you make on it really is pretty.

Cory grins. “Don’t worry. It’s not really broken.”

_Which means that they likely have the same sort of powers that Lenalee does, which makes them allies._

That decided, Komui hides his hammer among the folds of his gradient blue _tangzhuang_ , just in case. He catches Kino’s eyes on him and smiles at the man nervously; Kino only snorts, however, shaking his head at him. Komui smiles at them all, while Cory goes to attempt to close the rather abused front door. “Why don’t you all come inside and we can talk about why exactly you’re here.”

 

* * *

 

They all sat at the kitchen table. Lenalee hated the kitchen table. She’d seen Lan get turned to dust while he had been hiding under it. It still had visible signs where the bullet had broken through the side of the table to hit Lan, even though brother had covered it up with a tablecloth and promised to get a new one soon. And now… these people are here, that are just like her. Will they teach her how to use her powers? What if they try to force her to fight those things? What if they take Komui away from her?

Something within her tells her that they won’t, but she can’t help being scared anyway.

The white haired man–the one that had made a beautiful song that Lenalee couldn’t quite put into words, and smelled like make-up and blood that elicited a mental image of a white piano sliced in half, with a bloody handprint smeared onto the keys–who had introduced himself as Cory, smiles and begins with, "the reason we’re here is because of an organization called the Black Order."

Lenalee's tilts her head thoughtfully. "Why would you come just because of them?" She asks curiously.

"Because the Black Order needs people like us to fight the Akuma. And they're not against snatching kids away from their homes to get what they want." The scowly one who had introduced himself as Kino says harshly. He smells like flowers and the rain and when they had walked in Lenalee had seen a picture of lotus flowers floating in a pool of still water, the water rippling until finally, one by one, the flowers all sink to the bottom of the pool. Lenalee thought this was sad, though she wasn’t sure why. It had made something angry and protective go through her. Just as it had with Cory’s image.

She wasn’t sure at whom she was so angry at.

Brother sucks in a sharp breath and pulls Lenalee closer, lifting her into his lap and wrapping his arms around her protectively. Lenalee doesn’t protest like she normally would, leaning back against his chest. She looks up at him and pokes him on the chin. He looks down with a confused frown. Lenalee smiles up at him. _It’ll be okay, brother._

Brother smiles warmly, ruffling her hair. _I know it will, Little Lee._

Frowning, brother seems to notice something about their guests. Lenalee tilts her head. They do seem to be wearing matching outfits. Cory is wearing a black long sleeved tailcoat that buttons down the middle, with silver embellishments, hot pink trimming, and a dark grey shirt underneath and gloves of the same color over his hands. Kino, however, is in all black, with sleeves that go to his mid lower arms, and a dark brown belt that secures the fabric that bells out from his middle, stopping at the top of his knee with a cut down one side. The only thing the same about their uniforms are the pants and shoes–all black, Kino's shoes shin high while Cory's stopped at the ankle–and the strange symbol on the breast, of a yellow sun with a red and black snake eating its own tail inside.

"Are you from an organization yourselves?" Brother asks with suspicion.

"Oh! Uh…" Cory and Kino exchange glances. Lenalee gets a sudden feeling of energy humming through the air, looking back and forth between the two in confusion. It’s almost like their images are _melding together._ But that can’t be right, can it? Judging by brother’s confused frown, he’s picking up on something that’s happening too.

Cory rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "We haven't exactly figured that out yet."

Brother nods with a frown. “I see. And the Akuma are…?”

“Weapons of destruction that can hide in plain sight, though that’s a simplified answer.” Cory answers with a tired shrug.

“And you believe these people would force her to fight them?” Brother questions with a deep frown on his face.

Cory and Kino exchange a look. “Probably as soon as she got there, considering she has an activated Innocence.” Kino confirms, and he might look disinterested if there wasn’t so much _rage_ in his eyes.

Lenalee takes a deep shuddering breath. She would not cry. She _would not cry._ She would be brave, for brother. The hand on her head threads calming fingers through her hair, and Lenalee sniffles, grabbing brother’s _tangzhuang_ tightly in her fist.

Brother gives them an evaluating look. “...I suppose you didn’t just come here to deliver a warning.”

Cory nods. “We have a plan.” Then, as one, Cory and Kino stiffen, meeting each others eyes as they leap from their seats, Kino drawing his sword in one fluid motion as they turn towards the door.

Lenalee’s eyes widen, her heart beating hard and fast in her chest.

_What was going on?_

And that’s when a man bursts through the door.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Kino is so tired of this shit.

First the CROW, now this?

Marie stands before them, and right at the corner of his forehead is a familiar scar. The same scar that had adorned his forehead years after Kanda had healed it in Asia Branch.

Fuck. They forgot about Marie.

But it seems as though Time Shenanigans™ has made the effort to remind them.

Marie focuses sightless eyes on Kanda and he smiles in what seems like relief. “It  _ is _ you,” Marie says with relief, “I didn’t know if I could ever find you again after what you did for me.” Fuck. If Marie can remember his Innocence Signature after one supposed meeting, it was no wonder he was here. Marie’s range was legendary; he could detect active Innocences farther than any General, and that was through pure effort alone. Kanda had lead him right to them, all unknowingly. “And I’m sorry, but as much as I’d like to let you go, it’s my duty as an Exorcist of the Black Order to bring you in.”

Marie and Allen activate their Innocence in one fluid motion, Allen’s wings flaring threateningly before they shift and mold into the familiar shape of his cloak. Marie’s strings whip towards them, and Kanda cuts through them with a single slash of his sword. “Get them to the Ark!” Kanda yells, and Allen turns tail and grabs Komui and Lenalee. 

With a flash of light, they’re all gone.

“Just what I expected of you,” Marie says, “but you got distracted, didn’t you?”

Strings come from all sides, weaving an elaborate trap around Kanda. He struggles, but the strings refuse to break, cutting through his clothes and into his skin. He hisses, but the strings are thoroughly wrapped around his arms. Marie pulls on the strings, and Kanda is pulled forward, his feet screeching against the floor. Kanda feels a tingle against his skin and laughs. “You’re the one who’s a little distracted.” He says with a smirk, just as Allen teleports in behind him, cutting through the strings as he wraps his arms around him. 

And then Marie and the room disappears. Their bodies dissolve into light, the light swooping through the city streets and up into the sky. Kanda just keeps ahold of Allen, even though his body isn’t even there anymore, more like an idea of what it’s supposed to be than any actual physical form. Once up into the sky, the light  _ vworps _ out of existence, and Kanda’s mind shuts down as he ceases to exist for exactly five microseconds. The light  _ vworps _ back into existence inside the Ark, and then coalesces on the ground, building up blood and muscle and bone until Kanda is staring into Allen’s relieved face.

 

 

* * *

 

 

What on earth is this place?” Komui asks, glancing around curiously.

Cory shrugs. "Nothing for you to worry about."

"But it's so curious…" 

Kino's instincts prickle, and he draws his sword with a rasp of leather on steel and levels it at a rather familiar person's throat. Not that he can let on that he knows him. “Who are you and why are you here?” He demands.

“I’m Bak Chan. I’m the new head of Asia Branch as of last Thursday, so it isn’t surprising that you haven’t heard of me! As for why I’m here, well…”

Bak looks down at the two children beside him, Yuu and Allen both bristling defensively at the sudden attention. “These little boogers,” he points at the accused children in question, “opened up this weird portal in one of my labs.”

The silence that follows is deafening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *In the Qing dynasty, (the Era that China is currently in in the DGM timeline and will continue to be until sometime in the 1900's) men wore queues to show their allegiance to the Government, who were conquerors and so cracked down on the rest of the population. If a man didn't wear a queue, it meant he did not support the government or anything it stood for. (Or so I gathered from my google searches. If anything is wrong please don't lynch me!) 
> 
> Since Komui doesn't wear a queue I have to believe for historical accuracy that he was against the government at the time, (which wouldn't neccessarily be a bad thing), however I do not know a lot about Chinese culture other than the fact that the honorifics are so complicated compared to Japan's that I don't blame Hoshino one bit for having Lenalee call her brother "Nii-san." So any help in that sense for what Lenalee should be calling Komui or any other facts about Chinese culture would be much appreciated! I've looked online, and I'll keep looking, but any helpful sites that you know about would be appreciated!
> 
> If you've gotten through this long ass authors note, congrats!
> 
> Comments? 
> 
> Kudos?
> 
> Any ideas you want to share? 
> 
> I'm open to prompts or ideas, so please, go ahead! I love listening to other people's thoughts and ideas! ^^
> 
> Edit: I edited a few scenes in this chapter, bc with hindsight I was being a little character biased with the Exorcists and Marie. He wouldn't just immediately trust them just because they saved a few kids, especially bc their attempts also _killed_ a lot of them in the process. That doesn't exactly make your agenda clear.  
> Also, telling a potential threat i.e. Komui who in Kino's and Cory's minds _could_ eventually become head of the European Branch about the Ark as well as Marie, an Exorcist of the Black Order who could use the knowledge against them... not a smart move. So that got cut as well.
> 
> Alright, see y'all next chap!

**Author's Note:**

> Cory and Kinoshita will be keeping these names throughout the series, though they will mess up their names in the narrative as I see fit. I just don't think someone could get used to calling themselves a completely different name so easily. I did think about letting Kino keep his original surname and just letting Yuu come up with something else, but I realized that neither Cory or Kino would think of that solution, so I left it the way it was. ^^


End file.
